Water under the bridge
by Whinkx
Summary: Ford is sent to the mindscape months after the events of Weirdmageddon. What's waiting for him there is completely unexpected and unwanted... until a deal is proposed.


**Just a warning, this fic might contain spoilers if you haven't gotten to Weirdmageddon yet. (And a bit of language. Nothing horribly explicit.)**

Years ago, Stanford pines used to have dreams about Bill cipher as a human. Back then, the dreams were quite interesting to him. He was never quite sure if it was _really _him, but regardless if it really was Bill or not, the dreams used to truly fascinate Ford.

_Used to._

After days, weeks, even months had passed since the events of Weirdmageddon, Ford got a dream similar to the ones he used to have in the past.

At first, his vision was blurry. Ford woke up in the mindscape, just like he usually would over 30 years ago. He looked around as his vision was quick to improve. The mindscape looked the same as it had back when he was younger, when he had first met Bill.

Stanford looked around the mindscape frantically when he heard his name being called by a _very _familiar voice.

The voice rang in Ford's head. _I know this voice. It couldnt be mistaken for anyone else. _The voice was very similar to the voice that Ford had grown used to. However, the voice had lost its echoey tone. To most people, the voice would seem to be just another man's voice. But to Ford, he knew it could be only one person...

"Bill!" Stanford shouted out, clenching his fists. _This isn't happening. _He thought to himself. _After all these years, he tranforms into a human form again...why? _Stanford looked around with a glare on his face. "Come out where I can see you!" He commanded.

On what Stanford assumed was on his command, Bill landed right in front of him, as if he had fallen out of the sky. Not that the demon falling out of the sky would be strange. He _was _in the mindscape, after all. The man now standing in front of him was just as Stanford remembered from years ago. The man was blonde with semi-short hair that nearly reached his shoulders. He had bangs at the front that the demon would have to push aside, normally using the bangs to cover his right eye. Bill's pupils looked the same as they would when he would possess someone's body, his eyes a shade of yellow with black, vertical slit pupils. His skin tone was a shade of caramel that shined in the light. He wore a black button up vest with a long-sleeved dress shirt underneath in a yellow color.

"Jeez, no need to be so stubborn, Fordsy!" Bill stated, a smirk on his face as he put his hands on his hips.

"Don't call me that..." Ford muttered, looking away from the other man, the glare still visible on his face.

Bill narrowed his eyes at the reaction. "Wow," He began, "You can't even _look_ at me, huh?"

"Does that seem like some sort of _surprise_ to you?" Ford asked. He looked at Bill, only to read the other's facial expression to his words as he spoke. "You ruined my life."

"You ruined your _own _life, _sixer._" Bill stated. "You can't put_ all_ your life problems on poor little_ me_." He said, in a playful manner.

"I never said that _everything _was your fault." Ford corrected. "However, I'm_ certain_ that my life would have been much more simple _without_ you."

Bill shook his head at the statement, laughing sarcastically. Nah, nah, no. You trusted me. I have my reasons why I did what I did to you." He said, folding his arms.

Ford rolled his eyes and sighed. "Please, just answer something for me."

Bill shrugged at the request. "Anything's possible." He said, looking down at his fingernails in a bored manner.

"How the hell are you still alive?" Ford questioned. "Stanley risked his own _memory _to get rid of you. He...he risked _everything._" He said with a small frown on his face.

"Ah, and it must _sting _to see me still here, huh Sixer?" Bill asked, putting a hand on Ford's shoulder. Stanford flinched slightly at the contact, but he didn't jerk his shoulder away like he probably should have. Ford figured that he accepted the contact in hopes of getting a legitimate answer from the humanized demon standing before him.

"Please." Ford asked again in what came out as more of a mutter. Asking questions so helplessly made him feel incredibly _weak. _But there wasn't much he could do about that if he wanted an answer from the demon.

"Well," Bill began. "Have you ever studied a creature called the Axolotl?" He asked.

"Yes," Stanford confirmed. "I have one in the fishtank of my living room." He said.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Stanford pines, I _really _thought you would be smarter than _that._" He said, shaking his head with a fake frown on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Ford asked.

"Let's not get into that," Bill muttered. "Let's just say... my ordinary form is unusable for quite some time. Well, for however long I decide to wait until I invoke a certain creatures name, that is." Bill informed. "Until then, I just gotta stick with this meatsack."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Stanford questioned.

Bill shrugged. "It's not like I have anything better to do around here. Might as well fix some of my mistakes, or... whatever." He said, looking away.

"You can't fix what's been broken." Ford stated, his voice firm and his fists clenched once again.

Bill hummed for a moment, then looked at Ford. "You fixed your problems with Stan." He said.

"That's different." Ford stated.

"How exactly?" Bill shot back.

Stunned by the question, Ford just stood there in complete silence. His mouth hung open slightly, and at this moment, he just _wasn't _sure _how _to respond to something like that. He ran a hand through his hair a few times, and the stalling was clear to the other man.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Exactly." He said, chuckling in a sarcastic manner and shaking his head.

"Weirdmageddon," Ford suddenly blurted out.

Bill was quick to look at Ford once he heard the word. He raised an eyebrow, putting his hands on his hips. "What?" Bill asked.

Ford nodded at his example. "Stan didn't cause a Weirdmageddon. He wasn't the reason for the end of the world. In fact, he was the one who stopped it."

Bill narrowed his eyes. "Fair point," He admitted. "However, _I _wasn't the cause of your sibling problems. I wasn't the reason that the two of you were on thin ice with each other. In fact, I was the one who resolved them." He said with a shrug.

Ford shook his head and grunted. "You did no such thing." He stated.

"Oh really?" Bill began, "You wouldn't have had to ask Stan to come to Gravity Falls in the first place if it weren't for me. Without me, you _never _would have sent that postcard. And without me, you and your brother may have never reunited."

"Don't try and guilt trip me." Ford commanded with his teeth clenched. "You never cared about any of that."

"Right again, Fordsy!" Bill said with a large grin on his face. Ford scoffed at the nickname, but decided not to comment on it. "Say, how about I... make a deal with 'ya?" Bill asked, shrugging innocently.

Ford took a small step back at the proposal. He narrowed his eyes, shaking his head. "Why would I _ever _make a deal with you?" He asked with a glare on his face.

"C'mon, IQ! Just one small little deal?" Bill asked the man as he wore a small, playful smile on his face.

"Are you kidding?" Ford asked rather sarcastically, folding his arms. "_None _of your deals have ever been good in the past. Never!" He said with a glare on his face.

"Water under the bridge." Bill said, waving his hand dismissively. "Will you at least _listen _to the deal first?"

Ford exhaled in pure annoyance, looking at Bill with caution. "What sort of _crazy _deal would you want to make?" He asked. Before speaking again, he scoffed slightly under his breath. "What do you want? My eyes? My mortal soul? Are you going to posess my body and use it to attack reality?" He asked, the glare still visible on his face.

"Relax, Sixer!" Bill said, his eyes wide. "First of all, what the hell would I even_ do_ with your eyes? Second of all, I wouldn't want _your _mortal soul. I've collected a lot of those in the past, and they've just got boring. And third of all, I'm not even sure if it would be possible to possess you when I'm stuck in this human form." Bill informed, folding his arms.

"That doesn't mean you wouldn't _try._ Stanford stated, clenching his fists at his sides.

"You know, this is what I _really _love about ya', Sixer!" Bill exclaimed. "You never hesitate to hypothesize!" He praised with a grin.

"Wh-?" Ford tried to say, but the other man took a step closer towards Stanford, placing his index finger atop his lips to stop him from speaking.

"You know, here's the problem, smart guy. I don't _have _magic." Bill said, glaring and looking down at his feet. "All that I have at my fingertips is the dumb restraints of the mindscape."

"So..._ your_ powers in here are equal to mine?" Ford asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup." Bill muttered.

"Then... how can you make deals?" Ford questioned, puzzled.

Bill rolled his eyes and sighed obnoxiously loud, throwing his head backwards to make the outburst more dramatic. "Make up your damn mind, Stanford! Are you smart or dumb? Haven't you heard of a _normal_ deal?" He asked. "A normal deal! No magic, just a _normal-ass deal!" _He exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and rolling his eyes.

Ford just sighed, not really knowing how to respond. "I'm not confident that I can trust you. Why should I even _consider _trusting you, anyway?" He asked.

"Sixer, just listen to the deal!" Bill exclaimed. Ford folded his arms and looked into Bills eyes, not saying a word. That gave Bill the hint that Ford would at least _listen_ to his deal. "I promise to stay away from your fleshbag family for however long they live if _you _promise to visit me here in the mindscape once and a while." He proposed. _"_And remember, you can leave the mindscape whenever you want, so it's not like I would be keeping you in here until the end of time or anything."

"Visit?" Ford asked. "Why would you want me to _visit?" _He asked. Now Stanford was _really _confused.

Bill sighed and shrugged. "Honestly, IQ, it gets _super _boring in here all alone! There's _no one_ to mess around with, and no one to talk to." He said, folding his arms and looking away. "If i'm gonna be stuck in here, then being immortal is gonna _suck!_" He exclaimed with a small frown.

Ford adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "Let me get this straight; you promise to leave my family alone and _never_ mess with them again _if _I visit you here once and a while?"

Bill nodded. "Correct." He said.

"That's it?" Ford questioned.

"Correct." Bill repeated.

"What's the point of telling me to visit if you can summon me in here whenever I'm asleep?" Stanford asked.

"Because if I summon you in here, you'd just force yourself to wake up so you wouldn't be stuck in the mindscape with me. But if we make a promise saying that you'll accept visits once and a while, then you can't deny visits every single time I try and summon you." Bill said.

"How come you don't just summon someone _else?_ Someone new and random?" Ford asked the other man.

Bill chuckled at the question and put a hand on Ford's cheek before speaking. "Because you're smarter. Better. Cuter!" He said, grinning from ear to ear.

Ford raised an eyebrow at the _'cuter' _statement. He was considering questioning but decided against it when Bill flicked his nose a couple of times. "Just to clarify, we're _not _doing a handshake. I've learned to stay away from those." Ford said.

"Then how are we supposed to seal the deal?" Bill asked, his hand still resting on the other's face.

Ford shrugged. "If we're promising, just say 'I promise'."

"Sounds fair." Bill said with a shrug. "Look at Fordsy, teaching an immortal!" Bill teased with a smirk, patting his head with a snicker.

Ford rolled his eyes. "Don't start sugar coating your words, Cipher." He warned.

Bill rolled his eyes jokingly, adding a smirk to the action. "You don't own me!" He said, his smirk large on his face. "Don't be so stubborn!" He commanded. Bill took his other hand and used it to play with Ford's hair.

Ford grunted and grabbed the other's wrist. Bill looked over at his hand and frowned. "No fair!" He pouted.

"Don't act like a child." Ford commanded.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Please, I'm just being myself!" He said with a smirk. "Now, do we have a deal?"

Ford closed his eyes and sighed. He opened them slightly and looked away, thinking to himself. _Do I really want to get into this? If I accept the deal, my family will be at peace. It seems like that's all they've wanted since Weirdmageddon. Bill never said how often I needed to accept the visits, all he said was that I couldn't deny it every time... _He bit his lip, and looked at Bill, letting go of the other's wrist. He looked in to the other's eyes and gave a slow nod. "Alright, Cipher. I'll take your deal." He said.

"Great!" Bill exclaimed. "I promise to keep my word." He assured.

"I promise to keep _my _word." Ford responded, an unsure look on his face. Was what he was doing really going to be worth it?

"Then it's settled!" Bill said with a grin. "You're excused."

Ford rolled his eyes at the commandment. "Don't expect this to be a daily thing." He said, pointing a finger at the other man.

Bill shook his head innocently. "Of course not, Fordsy!" He said with a smirk.

"Bill, _plea-_" Ford started, but stopped himself in the middle of his sentence. He shook his head, deciding to let the hatred of the nickname go. _He's clearly not going to stop, so I might as well avoid fighting it._ He gave the dream demon eye contact for a moment before saying. "Goodbye."

With that, Ford began to fade away out of the mindscape. Bill just waved a goodbye, waiting for the man to wake up. Once he was sure that Ford had woken up, he snickered to himself. "We never clarified how often he could skip out on the visits..." He muttered. "He's gonna have a fun time dealing with me."


End file.
